Two three-year-old girls in Shenzhen were abducted in an alley by a middle-aged woman wearing a mask on January 3. The woman was captured by surveillance cameras and soon after detained by the police.According to the police, the 37-year-old Sichuan woman, surnamed Wang, was living by herself in a rental apartment. This was her first crime, and her motive is still being investigated. The two girls were spooked, one of them had a scratch on her face but there was no serious physical harm done.When police broke into the house, the two girls were hidden under a blanket, naked. The woman had reportedly soaked the girls’ clothes in water, and police suspected it was to keep the girls from trying to escape. The woman also gave a barbie doll to the two girls to play with.Nearby residents told reporters that Wang had lived in the apartment for more than a year along with her mom. Her mother said in the past that the woman had mental problems.“She will laugh when she sees someone, or maybe say hi, but nobody wants to talk to her,” a resident said.Police are still investigating the crime and whether or not the woman has a history of mental illness.By Isabel Quan